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by John Masefield (1878 - 1967)

A wanderer's song
 (Sung text for setting by J. Keel)
 See original
Language: English 
A wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels,
I am tired of brick and stone and rumbling wagon-wheels;
I hunger for the sea's edge, the limits of the land,
Where the wild old Atlantic is shouting on the sand.

Oh I'll be going, leaving the noises of the street,
To where a lifting foresail-foot is yanking at the sheet;
To a windy, tossing anchorage where yawls and ketches ride,
Oh I'll be going, going, until I meet the tide.

And first I'll hear the sea-wind, the mewing of the gulls,
The clucking, sucking of the sea about the rusty hulls,
The songs at the capstan in the hooker warping out,
And then the heart of me'll know I'm there or thereabout.

Oh I am sick of brick and stone, the heart of me is sick,
For windy green, unquiet sea, the realm of Moby Dick;
And I'll be going, going, from the roaring of the wheels,
For a wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels.
First published in Speaker (July 1902)

Composition:

    Set to music by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "A wanderer's song" [ voice and piano ], from Four Salt-Water Ballads, no. 2

Text Authorship:

  • by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), "A wind's in the heart of me", appears in Salt Water Ballads, first published 1902

See other settings of this text.


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Mike Pearson

This text was added to the website: 2008-01-21
Line count: 16
Word count: 175

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